A few days ago, technology blog Valleywag's launched its Apple Tablet Scavenger Hunt, a sort-of contest in which people with evidence of the existence of Apple's much-rumoured tablet could win large sums of money. Apple apparently wasn't amused, as the company resorted to its usual tactic whenever it doesn't like something in the press: litigation, litigation, litigation.

Glad to see you are supporting Apple's latest step in their almost flawless and brilliant viral marketing of the tablet.

Sending a letter from their lawyers costs nothing and pushes so many buttons in sites like this that it generates yet more countless clicks and eyeballs.

Let's hope that the actual tablet/slate is as good as their marketing - I personally think it will be way better and way more of a big deal than most people are expecting but hopefully we will find out for sure very soon

Seems an odd marketing strategy if it is one as you're essentially creating a negative public image just for the sake of gaining a couple more sites to chat about your product than there already was.

Personally I think it's more likely that Apple want all the speculation to die down as it's harder to have an epic rock-and-roll style launch if everyone is already familiar with the product.

I wouldnt be suprised if apple teamed up with them to have the letter put out just to go in this big loop. letter, controversy, reaction from apple, etc...

If you want to see the most ingenious marketing ever though, talk to MS. Brilliant at marketing (not including the recent thing with china; wait till google and yahoo say they wont put up with it and then say "oh, well we will stay ")

Not sure if this is a viral marketing strategy or not, but I got to thinking about Apple and their so-called negative PR. The thing is, Apple only really have negative PR in the tech community which, imho, is well-deserved. However, most people outside of the tech community never hear about these stunts, or the problems with the app store for example. And further, they don't really seem to care. When it comes down to the larger market outside of the tech world, Apple actually have a very good image. I think sometimes we forget that those of us who read this site are geeks, and pay more attention to what's going on from a tech point of view. As such, sometimes our idea of who has good or bad PR is a bit skewed.

The thing is, Apple only really have negative PR in the tech community which, imho, is well-deserved. However, most people outside of the tech community never hear about these stunts, or the problems with the app store for example. And further, they don't really seem to care.

Well, they might start caring if the *software developers* in the tech community stop writing software for Apple products...

Or maybe not, who knows - maybe Apple's plan all along was to be the exclusive software developer for their own products, and that's what Apple users want as well?